Trust Is Earned
by joyusbabs
Summary: Sam and Dean are at Bobby's discovering a cold case their dad tried to handle back in 1992...their dad thought it was vengeful spirits, but when they come to the town seeking answers, they come accross something they certainly weren't expecting. "So, is it vampires, or…?" "This doesn't make any sense…vampires aren't like that." Rated T just to be safe. R&R plz! Thanks.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: For those of you who were happily reading the previous story, Why Can't We Be Friends, I apologize, but I felt that I could rewrite it and make it way better. PLZ forgive me, but yes I am rewriting this story. Please tell me if you like this better. This is still AU, but there are spoilers, mostly from season 1 of vampire diaries, but there may be spoilers for the early seasons of Supernatural, too, so be warned.**

Chapter 1: Attack

"Please, please don't hurt me!" She shrieks as the man comes closer to her.

The man is wearing a leather jacket, with blood dripping down his chin. He just finished killing another person, and is now approaching her

"Hurt you? I want to kill you." He says as he tilts his head as he examines her.

She cowers before him, shaking with fear. He's going to kill her. His dark hair, and features are marred by the evil that has consumed him

"Please don't." She says with a warily shaky voice.

He seems to frown, feigning concern as he slowly and methodically approaches her. Once he's within a foot of her he kneels down and she gets a good look into his face. He smiles at the fear he sees, "You don't need to worry," She almost breathes in relief, "I'll make it quick for you." He pulls her up and pulls her head back, biting into her jugular, she can barely make out a scream, before she falls limp in his arms.

Her pulse quickly stops, and he tosses her to the side. As he's about to walk away, he grins at his work. _Perhaps, the town shouldn't be so ready to trust a vampire._ He thinks with a laugh as he walks away, whistling nonchalantly as if nothing even happened.

He knows it's only a matter of time before hunters come, and the town decides that it has no room for vampires.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Case?

"So, is it vampires, or…?" Dean asks with a frown.

"I don't know, but like I said before ya idjit, is that this town has a history with the supernatural." Bobby says, while he scratches his head.

"This doesn't make any sense…vampires aren't like that." Sam says, looking over the information.

Dean frowns, it's not every day they get to face up against a vampire. In fact, up until recently he'd never heard of vampires except in fiction. If these are vampires, then they're sure not like normal ones. Normally they hide out in caves or wear houses and kill discretely and bury the bodies, so that way they won't be found. These can't be vampires there's no way. "I'll go for vengeful spirits." Dean says raising his hand.

Bobby looks up at Dean and frowns, "This isn't a vote, ya idjit."

Sam looks up, "Dean's right, Bobby, vengeful spirits make more sense, I mean the land had a massacre back then, it says that the town went after twenty-seven of its citizens in a frenzy to cleanse the town, whatever that means…but vengeful spirits fit better, I mean the kills they happen in and around the town, since that night. Spirits with enough power in a town like that would be able to roam the entire town to wreak havoc or their revenge."

Dean smiles, "See told ya."

Bobby rolls his eyes, "I'm just telling you what I know from experience, this town is the ultimate place of supernatural, I mean there are rumors of everything being there."

"What does that mean?" Sam frowns at that.

"It means that there've been rumors of witches, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and more roaming in and out of that town. If you're going in there to tackle the game then I suggest you get a hold of an old hunter friend of mine. He went to that town seeking revenge, but as far as I know, he got out of the job for some reason." Bobby says.

"He went there seeking revenge for what?" Sam asks.

"He claims that his wife was killed about three years ago by a vampire. The guy said he saw the thing in the process, but the way he described it, was just unlike anything I ever heard of. He said that it had veins coming out of its eyes, and had actual fangs, rather than teeth. It was weird, but he's a history teacher now." Bobby explains.

"He saw his wife being killed by a vampire?" Sam asks and Bobby nods, "Did he ever catch the thing?"

Bobby shakes his head and shrugs, "I have no clue. He stopped calling me. He said that some things just happened, but he never said what they were. However, I know that he can help you, because he's been in that town for about a year now."

Dean nods, "What's his name?"

"Alaric Saltzman." Bobby answers.

Dean nods, "Hey, wait a minute, Mystic Falls, is that what you said the name of the town was?"

Bobby nods, "Yeah, why?"

Dean stands up and walks over to the table where his father's journal is sitting. "I remember flipping through this, and reading something about a town with a turbulent paranormal history, and Dad he…" Dean lets his voice trail off as he leafs through a couple more pages of the journal, "Ahh…here it is."

"_December 19__th__ 1992, I find myself in Virginia, just outside of Richmond, there's a town out here in this forest. Apparently, there've been some rumors of killings and murders, far too much for my taste. I left the boys at Bobby's so that way I wouldn't have to worry about them. I have yet to figure out the entity doing the killings, but it appears to be some sort of vengeful spirits. I did some digging and the history of the town seems like it's trying to cover something up. The massacre that took place in 1864, caused the town to lose quite a bit of the town's most prominent citizens. The Salvatore family was all but destroyed, and upon further digging I found that the Gilberts and the Salvatores are tied into this history especially. I stayed at the boardinghouse, Zach Salvatore is the one running it. I asked him about the history, but he was very evasive. I tried to talk to the sheriff, but apparently the sheriff was busy because a young mother went missing. Abby Bennett, mother and wife, just disappeared. Upon investigation I found that it had something to do with the young Gilbert girl, Elena. The whole town knows something. Looking into the records, I've noticed patterns not just about the supernatural entity, but also about the town's positions of authorities. It seems as though the Lockwoods reign over the town, and the Fells are the doctors alongside the Gilberts. The sheriff position has been held by a Forbes for almost as long as the town has been around. I looked into the registries some more, and there were other occurrences that bothered me. The Salvatore boardinghouse alone appears to have had its fare share of murders. Back in 1912, the man was killed just outside of it, and in 1930, there was a suicide. In 1953 there was an 'accident' where it seemed that Zach's great grandfather fell down the stairs, and again in 1961, where his wife finally died of a heart attack. Then in 1990, two years ago, there was another suicide, where Zach's brother, Albert Salvatore hung himself off of the balcony. His daughter Samantha moved away. When I asked Zach why he stays in a house like this, he told me that it's family tradition. _

"_I asked about anything ghost related, but he just brushed me off, and said that there was no problem. However, it was last night that the most startling thing happened. I was awake in my room, when I heard a ruckus going on, and crept over to one of the locked rooms, and looked inside. I saw two brothers that were fighting, arguing. I recognized their faces, from old pictures from way back in 1864, they were the two Salvatore brothers, from way back then. Then, I blinked and they were gone. The house appears to be haunted. I checked back into the story and read about the Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon. They fell in love with the same woman, and they both were shot down the night of the massacre. I asked Zach if he had anything from the original house in this one and he said that yes there are, but they're mostly found up in the two locked rooms. He told me not to go into those rooms under any circumstances. I asked why, but that night I had another sighting of the Salvatore brothers going at it again. They were still fighting, and it was that night that Zach finally kicked me out. He told me or rather advised me to never return there again. I couldn't finish that hunt._" Dean finishes reading.

"So, vengeful spirits?" Sam says amused, "Why would Dad leave the hunt, especially if he could just burn the bodies?"

"Maybe because he couldn't find where they were buried." Dean answers, still looking down at the book.

"What?" Bobby asks.

"Yeah, apparently, Dad wrote about his attempt to find their bodies, but he couldn't find out where they're graves were. When he asked Carol Lockwood, the mayor's wife, also the record keeper where they were buried, she told him, that the town's old cemetery houses all the old founding family members from the 1800s. Dad went there looking, but he could only find Giuseppe Salvatore, the dad, and Maria Salvatore, the mother. He wrote here that there is no record of the bodies ever being buried. He investigated into it further in Richmond and learned that the sons' bodies went missing shortly after they were both shot dead. He also wrote about how there were sightings in and around the town in the past of these two, but none recently, until Dad saw them arguing in the house. The Salvatore house or plantation or whatever, was burned down, but the contents were distributed throughout the town." Dean looks up with resolution.

"That would explain the sightings." Sam says in agreement.

"That information's all good and stuff, but what about the killings going on by the old church ruins." Bobby asks.

"That's where the bodies were taken to be burned during the massacre, and Dad claimed that there were some obscure accounts claiming the citizens were something supernatural, like they weren't normal people." Dean answers, glancing up momentarily from the book.

"What?" Sam asks suddenly not understanding.

"But Dad seemed to have dropped the idea, upon reading into it more, because the killings didn't match any sort of supernatural being that he knew of." Dean explains.

Sam frowns, "Okay, so apparently we have to find out where the brothers are buried. Does Dad have any pictures of them?"

Dean shakes his head, "No, he said that he knows where the pictures can be found though. The library, in one of the books he says that you can see the pictures of the original founding family members."

Sam nods, "Well, we have no idea what to look out for, then."

Bobby sighs, "I could go with you boys, to help ya…lord knows you two have the high probability of screwing it up." He adds with a chuckle.

Dean nods, "That might not be the worst of ideas, because Dad talked about the violence of the house, before and after the sightings."

Sam frowns, "What does that mean?"

"I don't know it doesn't say much more about it. Dad just left a few footnotes about the house being violent, and such. He said that he went to the old ruins of Fell's Church and wrote down that there's like a presence there. The eerie feeling was almost overwhelming." Dean explains, setting the journal down on the table beside them, as he closes it.

"Well, at least we know where to start." Bobby says. "I'll give Ric a call in the morning, before we head out and see if he can tell us anything."

Sam muses over that, "You said you sent him that way to look for vampires?"

Bobby nods, "Yeah, I heard they were moving that way, but that was two years ago, this town appears to have a more pressing concern, though, according to your daddy. Vampires are nomadic creatures; they wouldn't stay in a place for long, unless they had a scent to track. Ric's still alive, so they obviously didn't track him. Vampires come and go everywhere, but ghosts, it seems that this town is littered with them, they stay in one place and wreak havoc."

Dean nods, "Okay, then…sounds like a plan."

Sam sighs, "I guess we should get going then."

Bobby thinks about that, "Yeah, we could be there in the morning."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Be Aware

"What's up with you?" Damon asks in an uncaring tone as he walks down the stairs to his liquor cabinet. He's not wearing a shirt.

"Did you forget to wear a shirt?" Stefan half laughs.

Damon arches an eyebrow at his brother and before he pours himself a drink he looks down at himself, "Huh…guess I did." He pours himself a drink and walks over to the couch.

Stefan laughs and shakes his head, "Whatever. Hey, listen about the killings have you talked with Pearl about any of this?"

Damon shakes his head, "Yep…and she says that she has nothing to do with it. Anna's in school and what not. I think it's the tomb vamps, but Fredrick and the rest of them have yet to make an appearance, and I can't seem to find them."

"Did you check the old ruins?"

Damon looks at his brother with a hard expression, "You do know that I don't drink all day right. I actually care about this town. I want this solved just as much as you do. Besides, the last thing we need is for these killings to bring in a hunter or two; uggh…this town has enough of them already."

Stefan gives a small chuckle at that, "Could have fooled me, and yeah, I do agree with you about the hunters…remember that one that came by in 92?"

"Yeah, he was annoying…'oh, Zach, what're the voices in the house? What's the history of the town?'" Damon mocks with a laugh.

"Yeah, at least we both agreed on something then, huh?" Stefan agrees with a smile, "Okay, so anyways, did Ric tell you if he had any progress?"

"Nope, but you'll be seeing him when you go to class today, so you can find out yourself." Damon says.

Stefan nods, with a raise of his eyebrows, "Well, I'll be leaving now, since you're going into some sort of a mood."

Damon rolls his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll be going to a council meeting with Zach later today."

"Okay, so I guess I'll see you tonight." Stefan states.

"Yeah, okay." Damon nods, "Have fun at school." He adds sarcastically.

Stefan rolls his eyes and leaves the house. The rumble of the car lets him know that his brother has left for school. He sighs and stands up, setting his glass down on the coffee table in front of him. "Zach!" He shouts into the house. "Awe, come on Zachery, I'm not that bad am I?" When Zach doesn't make his presence known, Damon shakes his head and speeds up to the man's room. He immediately sets to knocking on the door. "I know you're in their little Zachery." Damon says mockingly.

"Damon, what do you want?" Zach asks quietly as he opens his door slowly.

"I want to talk to you, Zach." Damon says feigning casualness. "So, are we going to be going to a council meeting today?"

"What do you want, Damon?" Zach asks clearly not amused.

"All right you caught me, I want to spend some quality time with you, Zach." Damon says, and then bursts into laughter.

Zach crosses his arms against his chest and rolls his eyes, "Seriously, Damon?"

"I'll be at the Grille, so I guess I'll see you tonight at the meeting." Damon says and then just like that he speeds away, and the rumble of the camero is the only thing telling Zach that Damon's gone.

CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS

The impala drives through the town, stopping at the Mystic Grille. Sam and Bobby look over at Dean with annoyed expressions, "Seriously, Dean?" Sam asks.

"What? I'm hungry, and this place is as good as any, and plus, what better place to learn about a town and it's lore than in a local dining area?" Dean tries to reason.

Bobby mutters something incoherent under his breath, "Whatever ya idjit."

They get out of the car and Dean can't help but notice the blue camero stopped just behind them, "Okay, whoever drives that car is officially my new friend." Dean states as he walks over to it. "I mean, look at its condition, it's absolutely perfect." He mutters to himself.

Sam rolls his eyes, "Dean, come on we're here to eat not to watch you fall in love with another car."

Dean rolls his eyes, "Fine." He walks in front of his brother and Bobby as they enter the Grille. "I'm going to get a drink." Dean says before he walks up to the bar.

Sam just shakes his head, "Whatever." He says, as he and Bobby walk over to a table as close to the bar as they can get.

"That brother of yours has issues." Bobby says with a smile.

Sam nods his head in agreement and grins, "Yeah…did you see his face when he saw that camero, I mean it was like it was like it was Christmas." He laughs. "So, Ric's going to meet us here, after he's done teaching?" Sam changes the subject.

"Yeah, but that's not for another three hours, we'll have to come back here." Bobby answers wryly.

"Well, I guess that'll give Dean another excuse to eat." Sam says.

Bobby nods, "We could always get into a conversation, and find out some accounts from the locals here."

Sam muses that over for a moment, "Fine, I'm not that hungry anyways…where are we staying?"

"We could try staying at the Salvatore Boardinghouse, but your father said in his journal that he was thrown out, so I doubt that we'll be able to get in." Bobby reasons.

"Well, in the meantime, I could go talk to some of the founding family members, maybe find out a little about what my dad thought they were hiding." Sam suggests.

Bobby nods, "Sounds good."

"I'm going to go get Dean." Sam says as he walks up to the bar, to sit by his brother. He finds himself sitting in between his brother and another guy with a leather jacket. He can't help but think of the similarity between the two of them. He brushes the thought off however.

"Sammy! You came to drink with me!" Dean says with a grin.

"No, Dean, I came to get you. Bobby's going to find a place to stay, and we're going to go talk to some of the families." Sam says, "And my name's not Sammy, it's Sam." He growls that last part out in annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah." Dean brushes off, "I'm going to stay here and hold down the fort, you come get me when you've researched enough."

Sam rolls his eyes, "Come on Dean."

Dean shakes his head, "I'll be here, _investigating_, and you can investigate somewhere else."

Sam finally relents, "Fine." He leaves, walking out of the door.

Dean shakes his head and chuckles as he downs the rest of his drink.

"I couldn't help but overhear, what are you investigating?" A voice inquires.

Dean looks over to find that the man that was at the bar when he sat down is talking to him. "My brother and I are just here looking into some history of the town. It's sort of a hobby of ours to look into the ghost stories of small towns."

He tips an eyebrow at Dean, "And you think that this town has paranormal history?"

"I don't know yet, but the stories say otherwise." Dean says.

"What stories?" The man asks as innocently as he can.

"Oh, it's just that my father was here a while back, and he claimed that over at the boardinghouse there've been sightings of ghosts." Dean answers as nonchalantly as he can.

"Huh." He seems to mull that over for a moment, "Well, that's interesting, but as far as I know that house hasn't been open as a boardinghouse for the past year or so."

"Well, I don't know, man. It's just a hobby, really." Dean tries to placate.

"Oh, no I understand. My brother and I have some weird hobbies of our own as well, but that one just seems weird. What did you say your father's name was again?" He inquires.

"I didn't." Dean responds.

"What was his name anyways?" He asks.

Dean studies the man before him in curiosity, but before he could say anything, a woman in a sheriff's uniform walks up. Dean takes what he can get and leaves the bar, when the man turns his attention to the woman.

Once outside, Dean dials his brother's number. "Sammy, hey bro, can you come get me?"

_"Sure, Dean, hang on a second."_ Sam responds.

They end the call, and he looks over to the blue camero to watch the man he was talking to in the bar get in. The sheriff walks outside to watch him go. He pulls out of the lot, just as Sam drives up in the black impala.

Dean gets in and Sam gets back on the road again, "So, why the change of heart, Dean?" Sam asks with a smirk.

"That man at the bar, there was something off about him; I thought that we could come back later, you know when we're supposed to meat Alaric." Dean states.

Sam frowns, "Okay, sure. In the meantime we could go talk to the Bennett family to find out about the disappearance of the Abby Bennett."

"Sounds good." Dean responds absent mindedly, "But we should change first."

"Yeah, duh…we're going to the motel Bobby found." Sam says.

"He found a motel already? Why not just stay at the boardinghouse, and see if we can catch a glimpse of the brother's ourselves?" Dean asks.

"It's not open for business, Dean," Sam replies.

"So, I guess we'll have to sneak in there, then." Dean mutters.

Once they pull up to the old run down motel they get out of the car, grab their duffle bags from the trunk, and walk up to the room that Bobby told them he was renting. They knock on the door, and Bobby opens up.

"So, Dean, you decided to actually do your job, instead of drinking?" Bobby laughs.

"Well, the guy at the bar was weird, he was casually asking for things that were in detail about our lives. Something just seemed off, and I can't put my instincts on it, but my hunter instincts were telling me that whatever it is, it's not normal." Dean explains.

Bobby nods, "I see, we could look into that later. What are you boys up to now?"

"Well, I was going to go to the library to do some research, but now that Dean's here, we're going to go look into the disappearance of Abby Bennett, and maybe go interview Zach Salvatore, then we can go to the Grille and meet up with Alaric." Sam explains.

"Well, you boys better get going, because that sounds like quite a bit to do, so you better get on it." Bobby explains, "I could always go interview Zach if you want me to."

"Okay, sure." Dean replies, "We may take a while at the Bennett's so that might actually be a good idea."

Once the brothers change into their suits they head out for the Bennett's place, and Bobby takes his truck over to the Salvatores.

Bobby pulls up at the boardinghouse, and can't help but take in its old appearance. It looks well-kept. He walks up to the door and knocks. He can't help but think that there are inconsistencies with the report John had in his journal. He also can't help but think to himself that John would never leave a case like this cold. He wouldn't just up and leave. He wonders if there's something more sinister in this town, than just a ghost. Why would John just leave the case, and why would any hunter just leave this town unchecked? He wonders what could possibly have told Ric to stop the investigation, even if the vampire that killed his wife wasn't here, wouldn't the supernatural entity of this town cause him to still be in action.

He knocks on the door of the large house and after a moment it opens, revealing a man, who appears to be in his late thirties. "Hello, I'm looking for Zach Salvatore." Bobby says to the man.

"This is he." He replies, "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"Oh, we talked on the phone, my name's Bobby Singer." He says with a gruff smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm not taking guests at this time." Zach says with wide eyes.

"No, no, the motel you recommended is fine; I'm just hoping to ask you about the house." Bobby explains.

"I don't follow." He replies curtly.

"It's just a curiosity of mine, to find out about ghosts, and I've heard that this house was haunted." Bobby explains.

Zach frowns, but after a moment Bobby realizes it's not directed to him, but to the blue camero driving up the driveway. He looks over, to see who the driver is. He's young, with raven hair and blue eyes to match the car. He's wearing a leather jacket, with a grey shirt. He's also blasting classic rock. Bobby can't help but take in the similarity of this man and Dean. He parks and gets out. The man walks up the steps and stops to look at Bobby.

"Hello." He grins, but Bobby can tell that there's something more behind the expression.

"Hello." Bobby says.

He doesn't respond to Bobby anymore, and instead he looks over at Zach, "_Uncle _Zach, I didn't realize we were taking in guests."

Bobby can't help but hear the menacing undertone in his voice.

"No, no, we aren't, this is Bobby he was just asking about the paranormal entity of the house." Zach hastily corrects. Bobby doesn't miss the fact that Zach is flustered, and he became even more so when his nephew came driving up the driveway.

"Oh, I see." He mutters, "I met another guy at the bar, he was interested in the paranormal too. You know him?" He asks.

Bobby frowns, "Yeah, that's my nephew, Dean."

"Oh, well, I certainly don't understand why you'd say this house was haunted. What do people say they're seeing?" He asks with a smirk. Bobby can tell that he's curious, but just not for the sake of curiosity, he's actually inquiring for some deeper reason, but Bobby has no clue about what it could be. He can't get out of the situation.

"Nothing, it's just that I heard that there have been sightings of the old Salvatores from the 1800s." Bobby answers a little warily. He spares a glance at Zach, and he's a little unnerved at the fact that Zach is completely rigid. Screw that, Bobby's freaking scared, but he's determined not to let it show. It's weird though, when he thinks about it logically he should have no reason to be scared, because it's not like this guy is saying anything, but his gut is telling him to get out now.

"Oh, you mean Damon and Stefan Salvatore, the infamous rivaling brothers, yeah, I've heard those reports." He says.

"Oh, and you haven't seen them?" Bobby asks curiously.

"No, no, I haven't had the pleasure, but the ghost stories exist anyways." He says, "I'm Derek Salvatore, by the way." He says, extending his hand out to Bobby.

"Nice to meet you, Zach, Derek, my name's Bobby Singer." Bobby says. Normally he doesn't use his real name on the job, but something about this case is telling him that his aliases aren't going to work or allow him to get the job done.

"Well, you're welcome to come take a look inside if it will soothe that curiosity of yours." Derek says with a smirk. Something about it is menacing though, as if daring him to accept.

"Oh, no, that won't be necessary, but thanks anyways." Bobby answers.

"You sure?" Derek asks with a frown, even though it's clear he's being sarcastic as hell.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Bobby answers.

"Okay, then I'll be seeing you around, _Bobby Singer_." Derek says, almost spitting his name out.

Bobby nods and then leaves the premises as quickly as he can while avoiding suspicion.

CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS

Damon and Zach watch as Bobby leave. Damon then proceeds over to the couch and sits down. Zach trails after him with a fearful glare in his eyes. "What?" Damon asks.

"Don't do anything, okay?" Zach says warningly, "…And Derek? Damon, really? You do know that if they are hunters like that one back in 1992, then they'll dig into the town's history and yours and your brother's pictures will be found. They'll find out who you really are."

"Oh, I'm counting on it." Damon says dangerously, "This'll be fun. I'm just going to wait here and see how long it'll take."

"Don't kill them. You'll spur other hunters into action." Zach warns lightly.

Damon looks over at Zach with narrowed eyes, "Please, Zach, I didn't survive a century and a half of this life, being careless. I know what I'm doing."

**I went back and fixed the date to the last chapter. Thank you for letting me know. Anyways, I hope that chapter 3 isn't a disappointment. Please Read and Review, plz plz plz...thank you. I'll hopefully have the next chapter to _I Still Can_, by Friday, but I can't make any guarantees. Please review it goes a long way in helping my inspiration and drive to post new chapters. Thank you, again.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Discussions

"So, you met him?" Dean asks.

"Yes, I met the one who you talked to at the bar, he said his name was Derek, but you're right there's something off about that boy." Bobby frowns, "But I can't seem to put my finger on it."

"Anyways, enough of that, we found out from the Bennetts that the wife went missing in November of that year, but the husband wouldn't tell us why." Sam interjects, trying to change the subject.

"But we know why she went missing; Dad's journal tells us it's because of Elena Gilbert." Dean replies.

"Yes, Dean, I know that, but we have yet to meet her, and we also have yet to figure what the hell is actually going on." Sam says.

"Uggh…it just feels like the town's trying to hide something." Dean groans out, laying back on the bed.

"I know, something is off about this town. I agree with you, there." Sam states.

Bobby's phone starts ringing and he picks it up. "Hello?"

"Sure, yeah, we can meet you there."

"Okay, we'll see you a while."

"My nephews are coming with me."

"Okay, bye." Bobby hangs up the phone.

"Was that Ric?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, that was him, he called, saying that he's done with his classes, so we can head down the school and meet him in his classroom." Bobby answers.

"Okay, but I thought we were meeting him at the Grille?" Dean whines.

"Oh, come on, Dean, you don't need more to eat." Sam teases with a smile.

Dean groans and mutters under his breath, "Fine." He stands up and they all walk out of the room, and down to the car.

They pull up in front of the school and get out. They then proceed to walk inside, but as they approach Ric's classroom, they get stop short upon hearing voices in there.

"So, Anna, did you talk to your mom yet?" Ric asks.

They decide that this isn't for them to hear, so they make their presence known. They walk around the corner and appear in the room. The history teacher is sitting in front of a group of students.

"Hello?" Ric asks with a frown.

"Alaric?" Bobby says.

"Bobby, oh, gosh, I didn't even recognize you, and hasn't even been that long." Ric says as he approaches the man and they hug.

"We didn't want to impose, but we thought your classes were done." Bobby inquires.

"Oh, they are, study group, but it's not like I help them with anything, they just use my classroom." Ric lies easily, but Bobby can tell that it's not the truth.

"Well, Ric, this is Dean and Sam Winchester, they're my nephews." Ric smiles and shakes their hands.

"Hey, talk to your brother, and tell him that I'll meet him at the Grille after the meeting." He turns to one of his students.

"Will do, Ric. Anyways, if it's any consolation, he didn't mean it." He says as he walks up to him.

"Oh, yeah, sure, just like Hitler." Ric scoffs a little ruefully.

The boy nods his head in solemn understanding.

"Elena, tell your aunt that I said hello." Ric says as he turns to the girl, walking out with the boy.

"Sure, Ric." She says, the rest of the students follow her out.

"Rough time?" Bobby asks, once they leave the room.

"Oh, you have no idea." Ric mutters. "What exactly are you here for?"

"I was about to ask you the same question. There are people dying left and right in the town, and I know you've been down here for quite a while, are you still a hunter?" Bobby asks bluntly.

"I am, but I'm a vampire hunter, that's why I came down to this town in the first place." Ric says, "Why?"

"I know that, but what about the vengeful spirits?" Bobby asks.

"What?" Ric asks, like they're crazy.

"The vengeful spirits, my father was down here way back when and he said he even caught a glimpse of the brothers in the Salvatore boardinghouse." Dean says.

Ric struggles to understand what they're getting at, but he doesn't want to let too much get out, so he's going to try to figure out what they think is going on. Vengeful spirits, what the hell? "Salvatore boardinghouse?"

"It's a long story, but that place is haunted, legend has it that the brothers from way back when died, were gunned down, now they haunt the halls." Bobby explains.

"I haven't heard any such thing." Ric mutters, but then his eyes go wide, "What was your father's name?" He turns to Dean.

"John." Dean answers automatically.

"John Winchester." Ric mutters under his breath, too low for anyone to hear, "Damn it, Damon." Ric pinches the bridge of his nose, "Listen, this town is…is different, they don't respond well to hunters." He tries to warn them as lightly as he can.

"We've gotten that, the way they're seeming to cover for every death, it's amazing that they've kept this much to themselves, already." Bobby says, "But we're here to help you, and this town."

Ric nods slowly.

"You know about this town's history." Sam starts, "Could you lend us some history books on it?"

"Sure." Ric says as he puts a stack of books on the table.

Sam immediately is there to grab the four books, and he takes them over to a desk to start leafing through them.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the bodies of the brothers are buried, would you?" Dean asks.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ric arches an eyebrow.

"We think that everything can be traced back to them, but we can't seem to find where their bodies are buried, you wouldn't know where they're buried, would you?" Dean asks

"What exactly are you going to do when you find them?" Ric asks.

"Salt and burn, just like any other ghost. It'll destroy the spirit, and in turn it'll stop the killings." Dean says matter-of-factly.

"No, I'm sorry." Ric says slowly. Oh, crap, Damon, what have you done? He remembers Damon telling him in drunk haze once, about how he was in the town for a short while, when there was a hunter and he compelled him into leaving. "Why exactly are you here?" Ric asks again.

"My father, has a journal, and he wrote about this town, and how it was filled with vengeful spirits, the only problem is, is that we're trying to find out why he left the town as such a cold-case." Dean replies.

Ric frowns, "Vengeful spirits, huh? Wow! That certainly is…wow. Never would have thought of that." He feigns surprise.

"Are you still in the business?" Bobby asks.

"Yeah, but like I said, I hunt vampires." Ric says.

"Did you ever find the thing that killed her?" Bobby asks curiously.

Ric stops himself from responding with a yes, he has to think about this, but then again, it would be honest, "Yes." He replies shortly.

"Did you kill it?" Dean asks.

"Ummm…not exactly, but I did try." Ric says.

"What happened?" Sam asks.

"I don't exactly know." Ric replies. It's not a total lie, he did try to kill Damon, but he was killed instead, and brought back to life, and then formed a friendship with the man shortly afterwards, now that he thinks back on it like that, he honestly has no idea what really happened.

"It's still out there?" Dean asks.

"Ummm…sort of." Ric frowns, trying to conceal his smirk. Damon's going to get a kick out of this.

"I'll help you find it. You're wife will be avenged." Dean says with a matter-of-fact voice.

Ric nods, thoroughly believing him, but he's going to make sure that it doesn't happen. He's about to say something like no need, I've got it, but then Sam interrupts him.

"These books are very good, what are they?" Sam asks, trying to figure out who made them.

"Oh, my wife, studied the history of this town, she's the reason that I know what I know about vampires and ghosts. She made those books; sorry if the handwriting's a little messy or old." He explains.

"Mind if I take these back to the motel, for the rest of the night?" Sam asks.

"Sure, go right ahead." Ric replies. "I don't need them anyways." He mutters.

"Well, tonight we're going to try to look around the old ruins of the old church. If you want to join us." Dean says.

Ric thinks about that, "Why?"

"Because we're hoping that we can find the bodies of the deceased, hopefully we can get this job over with." Dean replies in a hard voice.

"I'm sorry, I can't I've got a date tonight, but you stay safe, okay?" Ric says.

They all walk out to the parking lot, to see that it's empty, and they all get in their cars and drive away from the school.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Doubts and Confirmation

"So, we have hunters here?" Stefan asks his brother with a frown.

"Yes, and get this, they're tied somehow to that hunter that came by in 1992." Damon says with an annoyed sigh.

"A hunter came here in 1992, and wait you were here?" Elena asks.

"Yes, I had business to attend to." Damon answers vaguely.

Elena frowns at that, "What business?"

"Wait, you said you took care of the hunter." Stefan inquires a little angrily.

"I did, I mean, I compelled him into thinking we were just ghosts or something and to leave, but apparently that wasn't good enough. I'll just kill the new guys this time to avoid complications." Damon says simply.

"Damon, they're my friends, you are not going to kill them." Ric says sternly.

Damon shakes his head in frustration and groans.

"Oh, don't you dare start grumbling to me about this. They told me what they think is going on, vengeful spirits. You compelled John into thinking that it was a simple case of a salt and burn and then told him to leave." Ric crosses his arms over his chest.

Stefan sighs, "Damon, seriously?"

Damon looks from Ric to Stefan and then to Elena, "Come on, guys, it was funny."

Stefan rolls his eyes, "Okay, so we just compel them into leaving."

"And leave this town open to more hunters looking to close the case?" Damon frowns, "No thank you." Then he turns to Ric, "Hey, why don't you tell them that you've got it handled here, and then they'll leave."

Ric rolls his eyes, "They want me to help them, Damon, it's not going to work."

"Why does this have to be so complicated?" Damon grumbles. There's a knock at the door, and Damon gets up to get it, followed by the other three. He opens the door to see Dean Winchester standing there. "Well, well, speak of the devil." Damon grins.

"Dam—" Stefan's about to scold his brother.

"Stevie, please, we have a guest." Damon quickly interrupts. Stefan shuts up and gives his brother a quizzical and questioning look.

Dean can't help but catch that, but he doesn't say anything, "Is Elena Gilbert here? I was told she might be here."

"Oh, I'm Elena Gilbert, what's wrong?" She frowns as she forces her way in front of Damon.

"Nothing's wrong, but I was hoping to ask you a couple questions." Dean amends. "May we talk out here, in private?"

She nods and steps out of the house, closing the door behind her.

Damon walks back into the living room, "Anyone want a drink?" He asks, lazily as he walks over to his cabinet.

"No thank you, but Damon, what was that about? Why am I Stevie, now?" Stefan asks with narrow eyes.

Damon sighs, "Well, with them hunting the original Salvatore brothers, we can't exactly be named Damon and Stefan, now can we?"

CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS

"Well, that led nowhere." Dean mutters as he walks inside of the hotel room, to find Bobby and Sam, still researching.

Sam looks up from his computer, "So, you talked to Elena Gilbert?"

"Yes, and as I already mentioned it was a dead end, she didn't know anything of what I was asking her, but something tells me that we're not following the right leads for this case." Dean explains.

Bobby suddenly looks up from the book that he's reading, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but when I was at the house, I could have sworn that Derek's little brother was about to call him Damon." Dean answers as he sits on the bed.

"So, you're thinking that it's not vengeful spirits?" Sam frowns, "But then why would Dad, say it is, it's not like him."

"I don't know, but something isn't sitting right about this town, and you know as well as I do, that Ric came down here searching for vampires." Dean mutters.

Bobby frowns, "So, what are you saying?"

"I don't know, but I think that we should break into the boardinghouse tonight, and look for signs." Dean states.

CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS

"Where's Zach?" Damon asks as he comes down the stairway to see his brother sitting in the parlor.

"He went to go deal with his niece, apparently there's a situation regarding some papers or something." Stefan explains.

Damon nods, "So, now that our dull nephew is out of the house, what do you want to do, Stef?" Damon says as he sits on the couch in front of the fire place.

Stefan frowns and looks at him. _Did Damon just ask him…does he want to bond?_ "What?" He manages to choke out, from underneath the shock.

Damon sits straighter and looks at him with a mischievous grin, "Oh, come on, Stef…you don't want brother bond, I thought you'd be all for that, after all these years."

"What are you playing at, Damon?" Stefan asks bluntly. He must not have seen Damon's reaction right, because for a fraction of a second it almost looked like hurt crossed his features, but it's gone so suddenly that Stefan's not sure that he saw it.

Damon shrugs and leans back against the couch, "Nothing."

"Why did you compel John into thinking that we were ghosts?" Stefan asks, changing the subject. He was always curious about what happened with that hunter, but now that he knows what his brother did, it just makes no sense. Couldn't he have just compelled him into thinking that there was no trouble here?

Damon shrugs, "I don't know, I was sort of drunk and bored at the time. It was sort of funny for him to leave thinking that we were ghosts, besides I didn't realize that it'd cause his sons or whatever to find their way here to the town, and reopen the hunt."

Stefan shakes his head and laughs, "Well, that's not nearly as destructive as you get when you're bored most times, so I suppose I shouldn't complain."

Damon smirks at that, "Yeah."

A window shattering and a grunt of pain end the Salvatore brother's bonding time. "Hello, boys, you remember us?"

CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS

"Okay, so what do you think is going on in this town?" Bobby asks. Dean just returned to the room, after being out all day. He interviewed Elena Gilbert, as well as a few others, and now he's not sure if his father got the facts right.

"I don't know, but somehow I think that the answer's been staring us in the face all along, we've just been trying to look at it like vengeful spirits for so long, that it's almost as though we're missing the key issues here. I mean the reports of the dead, don't even look at all like vengeful spirits, they look more like vampire attacks." Dean explains. He walks over to the table in their small motel room and grabs an article. "Okay, here, look at this, there's a body found and the news says it's an animal attack, and that the body was drained of blood. Everything points to vampires, and here we are looking into vengeful spirits. I even took the liberty of looking into the articles that date back to the 1860s, and all the articles are the same. They all say it's an animal attack, with people dying of a bite wound and blood loss. It's vampires, it has to be."

"Why would Dad say that it's vengeful spirits, I mean, how could Dad just mistake this. It's not like him to have missed these facts." Sam frowns.

"I don't know, and that's what's bugging, me. I can't seem to figure out how Dad would have missed these facts either, but I guess he did, and I think that Derek is hiding something. There's something weird about him, and I think that he knows more about this scenario than he's letting on." Dean states matter-of-factly.

"So, you want to go interview them?" Bobby asks.

"Yes, but I think that we should bring our weapons with us just in case, because my hunter instincts go off when I see him, but I can't quite figure out why." Dean replies.

"Okay, then let's go." Bobby says.

Sam, Dean, and Bobby all go to the boardinghouse, only to find that the windows are shattered inward and the door is open.

"What the hell?" Dean frowns. He immediately pulls out his gun and starts slowly approaching the house, after he gets out of the car.

"Something about this don't sit right with me." Bobby says sternly.

They all enter the house together, and are startled when they hear a cry of pain.

CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS

"OW! Gosh, why?" Damon screams.

"I'll tell you, why?" Fredrick states, "Because me and twenty-six others, including Bethann, here were sentenced to rot for eternity for you and your brother's infatuation for Katherine Pierce. We spent one hundred and forty some odd years rotting and desiccating, with nothing better to do than plan our revenge, and the fact that boys are still around, just makes it all the sweeter." He explains, before he walks over and jams another stake into Damon's gut.

Damon tries to curl in on himself as he cries in pain.

"We thought you two might've wanted to get a taste of what it feels like to be starving, before we end you." Bethann explains with a snarl.

"Awe, how thoughtful of you." Damon manages.

"Damon." Stefan barely manages to warn.

Damon pulls the stakes out of himself, "Come on now, what ever happened to letting bygones be bygones?" He tries to say as lightly as he can.

Fredrick laughs menacingly.

"So, what are you going to do, huh? Torture us, bleed us out. I hope you know that we tend to bounce back fairly quickly." Damon sneers.

"That's okay, it gives us more time to torture the two of you." Bethann says as she jams another stake just shy of Stefan's heart.

Stefan loses consciousness, before he can cry out in pain.

Damon's eyes go wild with rage, "I'm going to kill you both."

"That would be a neat trick, now wouldn't it, because we are older and therefore stronger, but yet you're going to kill us." Fredrick mocks.

Bethann smiles at that, "That would be interesting, but too bad your brother won't be around to see it." Just before Bethann jams a stake into Stefan's heart. Damon launches himself at her, using what strength he has left.

She and Damon wind up crashing through the wall of the entrance to the house. Damon takes no notice of the three hunters standing at the entrance of the house with gaping expressions as he relentlessly punches her.

"I'm going to rip your heart out, you're not going to kill my little brother, you bitch!" Damon screams in a fit of rage. She can barely makes sense of his movements, and Fredrick is there in no time, pulling Damon off of his girlfriend.

"How about I kill you instead?" Fredrick shouts as he throws Damon in the direction of the three hunters.

"Dean!" Sam screams as Damon lands on top of Dean and they both topple over each other down the stairs.

"Come and get me." Damon manages to spit out as he stands up on wobbly legs.

Bethann and Fredrick immediately walk out of the door, they push the two standing hunters down, and they fall to the ground with a grunt. They approach, Damon, and Bethann's wounds are healing.

Damon rushes them, and manages to knock them both to the ground beside each other. He slams Fredrick's head against the ground as hard as he can, and then goes for Bethann. His energy is waning on him, and he can feel it. When Bethann manages to push her assailant off of her, Fredrick and her run after him, after he manages to speed away, they chase him into the forest surrounding the boardinghouse.

"What the hell was that?" Sam, asks. He hears a groan of pain and immediately remembers that Dean took a fall down the porch. "Dean, are you all right?" Dean, looks to be in bad shape as he approaches.

Bobby rushes over to help Sam, pick Dean up. Together they prop him up against the steps.

They're in the process of assessing a barely conscious Dean, when two headlights show up at the boardinghouse.

Sam tenses up, as he sees the man rush out of his car. The man barely takes notice of them as he rushes into the house. He then returns; his expression frantic. He looks at the three hunters, just now taking notice of them.

"Ric?" Bobby asks with wide eyes.

Ric swallows, "Where's Damon and Stefan?"


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Okay, so I have to admit that I was losing inspiration on this, but thanks to the wonderful idea that NifadaDraculEadred's wonderful idea, I have returned with a new liking to this story. Okay, so this chapter is sort of filler, but I promise that more will happen later on. Please, please, please keep reviewing if you'd like to read more. Thank you so much for your support so far, I never thought I'd get this much for this story. Thank you again, and enjoy. Oh, and by the way, I know that I never put a disclaimer in any of my stories, but yeah, I own nothing (sadly). Thanks to any of you who read this, even though it was sort of just informative, nothing really said. Okay, so now to the story. The review button is down at the bottom of the story when you're done, so it's not that hard to miss it and "forget to review". That's right I'm on to you. Okay, seriously though enjoy this chapter, I'll try to upload the next one tomorrow night.**

Chapter 6: Alone

Stefan didn't know what to think, when he woke up alone in the house. He remembers hearing his brother's animalistic scream, and then nothing. He manages to stumble out of the house, and into the forest. He's got to feed, if he wants to gain some control over the situation at hand. He doesn't know where Damon is, but he can't care about him right now, at least not until he feeds and regains some semblance of his strength.

He can't even remember exactly what had happened, and he attributes that to the fact that he doesn't feed like normal vampires do. He really needs to straighten out his diet, and gain some sort of control on human blood, otherwise he might not be so lucky the next time.

When he finally finishes feeding off of the animals of the forest, he rests against a tree for a moment and puts his head in his hands. He can already feel the light from the start of the new day beating down on him. Yesterday started out relatively well for him and then he was ambushed. He wonders if Damon's back at the boardinghouse, screaming about the blood on his precious Persian rugs or that the decor that has been mercilessly destroyed and damaged. He's not ready to go back to that headache right now, so he figures that he'd wait in the forest for a while longer, before he decides to face that.

He looks down at his shirt and notices with displeasure how it's ruined, covered in blood and torn to shreds. This is another article of clothing that he'll have to get rid of now, and that's just great! He can't help the biting sarcasm, and he wants to scream at Damon for his apathy in trying to find the tomb vampires. He knows that his brother could have been more forthcoming about that quest. Hell, the sheriff, gave him numerous ideas of places to look, and Damon neglected every single one of them, saying that he had it covered. Damon's going to have another thing coming if he tries to blame this on Stefan, that's for sure. It's not Stefan's job to be looking for these vampires, it was Ric's and Damon's job, and maybe John Gilbert's, but then Damon decided that Ric was getting in the way on one of the searches, so he snapped his neck and left him in his car by the side of the road, alone, while he searched. Now Damon and Ric aren't speaking to each other, and so as a result Damon has been spending more and more time moping around the house, and less and less time searching for the murderous, vengeful tomb vampires that should have been taken care of weeks ago.

The hunters that came to town about a week ago are just causing added trouble and also halted Damon's efforts even more, because instead of searching for the vampires, he spent that time trying to figure out a way for the hunters to leave, to outsmart them, and to play a joke on them at the same time. Stefan wonders why Sheriff Forbes hasn't found any of this out. It's not like his brother is being exactly subtle about this, about his distaste for ridding the town of the new hunters, and at the same time trying to make fools out of them. Stefan wants to throttle his brother for his stupidity in compelling that Winchester guy back in 92, into thinking that they were vengeful spirits, thus leaving the door open to more hunters. Damon's got no one to blame for his problems than himself, and Stefan knows that he's completely justified if he blamed him as well. He can't wait to tell his brother "I told you so". Damon's supposed to have taken care of this a long time ago, and instead he's been completely ignoring the growing problem.

Stefan looks up at the sky and notices that it's well into the morning, so he decides it's about time he started heading back to the boardinghouse.

CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS

"You've got to be kidding me!" Stefan hears as he enters the boardinghouse. He rolls his eyes, because it's just as how he expected it, Damon screaming. He expects to see his brother staring down a blood stain on the Persian carpet willing it to leave the premises or disappear, and normally he would make some sort of sardonic comment about it in semi-good humor but not today. Today, he's going to scream his head off at his brother, scolding him for his stupidity.

What he finds inside stops him dead in his tracks, though. Damon is standing over a rug, fuming, but it's not the rug he's fuming at, it's the fact that the three new hunters are in front of him, wielding machetes, while Ric is standing on the sidelines unsure of what to do. As he gets closer he notices a body at his brother's feet.

"Well, well, did you enjoy your Stefan-time?" Damon asks, as his brother enters the house.

"Damon, I'm not going into this with you…this is your fault. Every last bit of this mess could have been avoided, but you just had to do things your way." Stefan says as he approaches his brother.

"My fault! How in the world is this my fault?" Damon asks incredulously.

"Don't play stupid, Damon, you know that this whole situation with Fredrick wouldn't have happened in the first place if you hadn't have been so anal about getting Katherine out of that tomb, and then when they're out wreaking havoc, you do nothing about it, and just mope about the fact that Katherine never loved you—" Stefan stops himself before he can say more. He admits that was cold and a horrible thing to say, especially in front of others, but he can't help it.

"Oh yeah, because she was too busy, being in love with you. I was too much of a play thing for her, is that what you wanted to say? Well, congrats, Stefan! This is all my fault, just like every other disaster that happens, I mean that's what you tell your precious Elena isn't it? I'm the cause for every tragedy that has ever happened over the past one hundred forty-five years." Damon sneers.

"Don't make this is a pity party for yourself, Damon! Don't you dare go there! You knew full well that those tomb vampires were out for revenge and you just let them be and didn't even bother looking for them." Stefan growls. He knows he should apologize for what he said, but he just doesn't want to.

Damon growls and is about to charge into Stefan, when Ric stands up to try to calm them down. "Out of my way, Ric."

"Damon…" Ric warns. Damon takes a breath, to try to calm himself, and just as Damon's about to drop it, he notices that Ric and Stefan exchange a glance of understanding.

"What am I on a leash now?" Damon shouts.

"Damon, just don't." Stefan says.

"Out of my way, Ric." Damon snarls.

"Not going to happen." Ric says.

Damon looks down at his friends hand and notices that Ric has his ring on, and just when Ric gets the idea of what's going through his friend's head, he's about to protest, Damon's next plan of action, but Damon's too quick and he snaps his neck and Ric falls to the ground lifelessly.

Dean, Sam, and Bobby are shocked and freaked out. Damon rushes at his brother and then shoves a detached chair leg into his brother's stomach, just below his heart, "Enjoy!" Damon sneers in his ear just before speeding out of the house and disappearing.

Stefan grunts as he hits the floor, and he pulls the stake out. Stefan notices that Ric is being surrounded by the three hunters.

Stefan stands up, a little shaky at first, but then manages to regain his bearings, "I'm sorry about Damon; he's just upset." Stefan says as he approaches Ric's lifeless body.

When Stefan notices that the three hunters are staring at him warily and are unsure of what to do, he sighs, "I'm sorry for my brother's behavior, but I have no intention of hurting you. I came to this town, seeking a normal life, a human life, and I'm not going to hurt you, you have to believe me." Stefan tries to placate.

Just as he's finished, Elena walks into the room. Her smile quickly turns into a frown of concern, "What happened here?" She notes the two lifeless bodies, and three distraught hunters, not knowing if today was their last day. "Hey…you're the…" Elena frowns, she doesn't understand what's going on here. "Stefan, what's going on, what happened?"

"Damon's upset if you can't tell." Stefan answers grimly.

Elena nods in understanding and allows her eyes to trail over the room and the damage done to it. She then notices that one of those bodies on the floor is Ric's. "Oh, my gosh, Ric!" Elena rushes to him.

"It's okay, he's wearing his ring. Damon checked for it, I saw him." Stefan states.

"That still doesn't make it okay, Stefan. Come on, Damon killed Jeremy while he was wearing the ring, and that doesn't mean that that was okay either." Elena growls.

Dean, Sam, and Bobby can't help but feel completely out of place. They went from being terrified, to confused, and now they just feel awkward. They're not even sure how that happened, but then again this is a weird situation, and they've gotten themselves in the middle of it.

"I'm sorry…" Dean's the first to speak up, "But I don't understand what's going on here, what do you mean by he's wearing his 'ring'? He's dead."

"The rings were created by a witch to bring any normal person back from the dead if they're ever killed by a supernatural entity." Stefan explains.

"I'm sorry, what?" Dean asks.

"It's hard to explain, but Damon killed him knowing that he'd come back. It doesn't mean that he won't come back pissed as hell, but hey…that's Damon's problem, not mine." Stefan tries to make a subtle joke, but it doesn't land.

"You're right it's Damon's problem, I don't ever want to see him again, after what he did to Jeremy: I hate him." Elena states defiantly.

"Jeremy's your brother, right?" Sam asks.

Elena nods, "And Damon killed him, just snapped his neck in a fit of rage, because things didn't go his way."

"He must have known Jeremy was wearing the ring, he wouldn't have done it otherwise." Stefan tries to soothe.

"He didn't…He was hoping that Jeremy still had vampire blood in his system, and that's why he did it, but I'm fortunate that he had his ring on." Elena shakes her head.

"What the hell?" Dean exclaims.

"You have to have vampire blood in your system, when you die to come back a vampire." Stefan explains.

"You have to what?" Bobby asks.

Just as Stefan's about to answer, him, a harsh gasp, brings their attention to a resurrected Ric. Stefan and Elena immediately jump to his aide. "Hey, Ric, take it easy." Stefan says as he helps the man sit on the couch.

Ric grunts and groans and puts his head in his hands. "Oh gosh, that hurts." Just as Stefan's about to say something in response, Ric looks up at Stefan, "You know contrary to popular belief I don't like being killed, okay. The first time, okay, I forgave that. I was trying to kill your brother and he killed me instead, that was self-defense, but the second time and this time, I've had it."

"Damon, knew you were wearing your ring." Stefan states.

"He knew I was wearing my ring the last time, too, and so he thinks that I'm his punching bag. It's not okay!" Ric announces.

"I know that. None of this is okay, but I'm just saying that Damon has his reasons and you know he wouldn't have done it if you weren't wearing that." Stefan points the ring on Ric's finger.

Ric scoffs, "Sure he would've. He would have just killed someone else's wife in front of them and then befriended the other widower."

Stefan sighs.

"Why are you trying to defend him?" Elena asks.

"Because after everything he's still my brother, and some part of me is hoping that the man that died back in 1864 is still in there somewhere." Stefan explains, when Elena and Ric both scoff.

"You know it's really nice that you're all spilling your hearts out, but does anyone want to give us a basic rundown of what the hell is going on?" Bobby finally demands.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Trouble

How dare his brother tell him what do! How dare his brother blame him for all the wrong that is happening in the world! It's not like he'd been doing nothing. He knew the tomb vampires were an ever growing problem, but he was searching for them. Twenty-some odd angry, vengeful tomb vampires with centuries of elusive experience did not make them easy to find, especially when you considered the fact that Damon hadn't even known them that well when he was alive, so that made them even harder to track.

Then Ric had to try to placate things. Damon snapped his neck, and there's no doubt that the touchy-feely history teacher will be mad all over again. Ric should know by now to not get in his way when he was angry. He's impulsive, everyone knows that. Then again, no one really ever blames him for his impulsiveness unless it seems convenient for them to guilt trip him. It was such a bunch of crap. Damon didn't need this.

So here he is, in a foreclosure, a nice one mind you, and he's absent-mindedly sucking blood from this strange girl's carotid. She's giggling and laughing with him, despite the fact that she's probably dying. Damon doesn't need her screaming, running from him, or possibly trying to fight him, so he just compelled her. He figures that he'd stay here for a while and then wander back home to the other side of town.

Damon can't even begin to describe how upset he was that hunters came, and not just any hunters, but ones that Ric seemed to know. Also, they are somehow connected to that other one that came to town about seventeen years ago. He doesn't need this stress. He knew that it would have been a better idea to compel the older man into thinking that he solved the case, but he didn't need the man coming back looking for vampires, in fact he didn't need the guy to even know they existed. He just told the guy it was a ghost. It wasn't his fault the older man wrote a vague unrevealing message in his journal about the so-called "case".

Besides, Damon was very much occupied during that time. He couldn't think through how to completely compel away the hunter problem. He thought he came up with something very good. It's nighttime of the next night when Damon finally decides to wander home. He turns his cell-phone on and frowns when he sees that he's had like fifty missed calls. He rolls his eyes, sits on the couch and starts listening to the first message.

By the time he finishes with the messages, Damon is not just seeing red, oh no that would be the understatement of the millennium, no he was freaking pissed. More than pissed, in fact there weren't words to describe how angry he is right now. He immediately sets out to find Ric. Without a doubt the hunter would be in his loft, sulking about how he'd been killed for like the fifth time or whatever number the last one was. Damon lost track after the first time, besides if he really wanted to know he could just ask Ric, without a doubt the drunk, history teacher/hunter would know. He doesn't even bother to observe the rules of the road, as he makes his way to the loft, besides he'd just kill the cops who thought pulling him over would be a good idea anyways, so it's not like there would have been a problem, well for him that is, as for the cops and their families that would have been an entirely different playing field.

"Ric!" He shouts as he bangs on the teacher's door, "Ric! What's the meaning of this?"

Ric opens up after barely seconds of hearing Damon banging on the door. "Damon, done sulking, I see."

"Yeah, yeah. Now, do you want to tell me what the hell is going on, or do I have to torture it out of you?" Damon was in no mood for playing games. This is war; the tomb vampires have declared war. Damon's overabundant need for revenge is eating up his entire being.

"Come in, Damon." Ric says.

Damon glares at the man while he walks into the room. He barely notices two of the other hunters sitting there, with stakes in their hands giving him wary looks. "Ric, you better fill me in on this, or I swear that a broken neck isn't all that ring'll bring you back from."

"The tomb vampires they took Stefan and Sam—" Ric is interrupted.

"Yeah, apparently Sam, thought that we should talk to you and your brother. You're monsters, and I'm going to kill you." Dean threatens as he walks up to stand in front of Damon.

Damon just scoffs, "You don't usually tell the person what you're going to do, before you have the upper hand, because it makes it really easy to counter." Damon's eyes flash full of rage and he grabs Dean and pushes him against the wall. The machete falls out of Dean's hand and onto the floor with a clunk. Bobby immediately rises, ready to come to Dean's aide.

"Damon, enough." Ric commands.

Damon narrows his eyes and glares at Dean, seemingly ignoring Ric, "You don't get to threaten me, do you understand. I'm giving you this offer as a courtesy to Ric and my brother, you are allowed to help me on the rescue mission, but I want you gone after we're done, understand?" Damon growls. "Or I'll kill you myself."

Dean just gives him a hard glare and swallows, but he nods nevertheless.

Damon throws him to the ground at Bobby's feet, then he starts going for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ric asks hastily.

"Getting my brother back." Damon sneers as he opens the door.

"We have to have a plan Damon, you can't just run in there grab your brother, kill Fredrick and walk out. It won't be that easy." Ric explains. "Besides, they're in a house, what if you can't get in?"

Damon tightens his jaw and then clenches his hands into fists as he turns around and looks at Ric, "What do you propose, then?"

"I'll go into the house, see if there's a human in there, and then I'll bring them out to you if there are." Ric says.

Damon narrows his eyes, "Why should I trust you, I killed you."

Ric rolls his eyes, "Let's not do the 'I'm lonely and have no friends thing now', okay? We both know that we're friends regardless."

Damon seems to relax a little at that, "How many vervain darts do you have?"

"Ten." Ric replies.

"They coming?" Damon asks, indicating the two hunters carefully watching the exchange in the background.

"You might not have a choice." Ric replies.

"You two good with a crossbow?" Damon asks, suddenly all business.

Dean raises his machete, "I'm more an up and personal kind of guy."

Damon rolls his eyes, "What about you?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Bobby says while narrowing his eyes.

"Great, there's our plan." Damon says in conclusion.

Ric sighs exasperatedly and gives Damon a pointed look. Damon raises his eyebrows in curiosity at that, "Damon, I think we need a little more preparation than that."

"Fine." Damon says as he reluctantly sits down.

**AN: Yes, I know, long time, no post. I'm sorry. I'm leaving for basic in about two weeks, so things are hectic, my goal is to finish this story before I leave, and hopefully have a sequel when I get back. I'm not sure if I'm doing a sequel, but if I were that'd be the plan, and yes this chapter was uneventful, for that I'm sorry. Don't worry, things will be picking up soon, I promise. I'm thinking next chapter we'll see what Stefan and Sam were doing up until they were captured, but I guess you're going to have to wait to find out. Hopefully I'll be able to post another chapter by Friday, but I'm not making any promises. Anyways, read and review. If I can get to twenty-eight reviews I'll post tomorrow night. There that's a goal for you and me, haha. Anyways please let me know what you think of this chapter. I promise within the next chapter or two things will get more angsty and suspenseful. I'll start doing cliffhangers, yes, that's right! I know, their dreadful, but they make your imagination go wild, huh? That's what I love. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. **


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Little Brothers

_How did this happen?_ Sam frowns, okay, this is odd he's not usually as anal as his big brother is when it comes to killing every supernatural creature out there, because there are good ones much to Dean's chagrin, but this is just plain odd. If someone were to tell him that this is where he'd be today he'd laugh in their face, because…well this is weird.

"So, you've been alive for one hundred and sixty some odd years?" Sam still can't wrap his head around that.

"Yeah, Damon and I we transitioned together, we've been brothers all this time." Stefan explains.

Sam starts laughing, and Stefan gives him a quizzical look, "I'm sorry, I just can't seem to understand any of this, I mean instead of killing you, I'm talking to you."

Stefan relaxes and grins at that, "Yeah, my brother would probably skin me a thousand times if he found out. He's not too big on befriending hunters."

"But he and Ric Saltzman are friends." Sam states.

Stefan sits back into his seat, "Don't ask me to explain that complicated relationship that they have. I have no idea why they're friends, but they are."

Sam frown, "Odd."

"You're telling me." Stefan laughs.

"What exactly are we supposed to do now?" Sam asks seriously.

Stefan thinks about that, "Well, I'll tell you what I'd advise you to do, but if you're big brother is anything like mine, you'll have a hell of a time getting him to comply with this." Stefan sighs, "I'd leave, or stay out of Damon's way if you don't want to. With any luck he'll have solved this rogue vampire problem within the week. If you get in Damon's way or if he feels you're in his way he'll kill you."

Sam swallows at that, "Have you ever thought of re-education, because I know you'd never consider killing him for the greater good."

Stefan seems to tense at that, "Believe me the idea has crossed my mind numerous upon numerous times over the last one hundred forty-some odd years, but he's my brother. And no matter how much I want to hate him and blame him for everything, I can't. I forced him to turn, so I wouldn't have to be alone, I'm just glad that he's mellowed out some."

Sam widens his eyes at that, "Mellowed out?"

Stefan nods, "Yeah, I mean he's still Damon, but he's a lot less impulse-driven than he was before. He…look, when you're a vampire your personality is magnified, so Damon in life was a womanizer, impulsive, liked to drink, loved to deflect and dance around issues, and hid his emotions under a wall or something like that, so as a vampire, he's…well that but more forceful." Stefan continues, "I cared deeply for people, sympathized with them and shared their pain, so as a vampire I'm that just…more."

Sam thinks on that, "The way you described your brother could have been a description of mine, minus or plus a few key things."

Stefan nods, "I can see that."

A crash coming from the other room of the house grabs both their attention.

"Well, well a hunter and a vampire, well I guess this just our lucky day." A menacing voice says.

Stefan stands up and gets in between Fredrick and Sam, "Leave him out of this; it's my brother and me that you want not them."

"No, did you leave Bethann out of it?" Fredrick asks menacingly.

"Bethann tried to kill us. Damon was just defending himself." Stefan argues.

"Don't make excuses." Fredrick growls.

Before Stefan can say anything else, everything goes black.

**AN: Short, I know, I'm sorry, but I really had no inspiration for this chapter. Anyways, please keep reviewing. We're almost to the end. I think I have an idea for a sequel. And as for the last chapter, I know that was Damon's plan last time, but really, Damon has only one plan of action and that is action. Anyways, thank you for your review, I do like constructive criticism, and again please review. Thank you.**


End file.
